World
Trump bags FIFA Peace Prize, emerges first ever recipient
US President Donald Trump has been named the first-ever recipient of FIFA’s new peace prize during the 2026 World Cup draw on Friday.
The award comes as a symbolic recognition for the 79-year-old leader, whose long-standing ambition to win a Nobel Prize has not been realised.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, a close associate of Trump, presented the honour to him during the ceremony held at the Kennedy Centre in Washington.
“Thank you very much. This is truly one of the great honours of my life. And beyond awards, Gianni and I were discussing this, we saved millions and millions of lives,” Trump said.
Infantino said Trump won the award for “exceptional and extraordinary” actions to promote peace and unity around the world.
FIFA announced the annual prize in November, saying it would recognise people who bring “hope for future generations.”
Its inaugural recipient was hardly a surprise.
Infantino, 55, has developed a tight relationship with Trump, visiting the White House more than any world leader since Trump’s return to office in January.
The US president often insists that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending what he says are eight conflicts this year, including a fragile ceasefire in Gaza.
He was snubbed by the Norwegian Nobel Committee last month as it awarded the peace prize to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
Trump has put himself at the head of a “board of peace” for war-torn Gaza, Infantino also attended the signing of that peace deal in Egypt, while his administration this week renamed a Washington peace institute after him.
The US leader has made the World Cup a centrepiece of his second presidency.
Yet it was an extraordinary gesture for FIFA, a sporting organisation that trumpets its political neutrality.
There has been little transparency around the prize. Human Rights Watch says it has written to FIFA to request a list of the nominees, the judges, the criteria and the selection process and has received no response.
The prize came as Trump faces criticism from Democrats and rights groups on a host of issues.
The self-proclaimed “president of peace” has launched a huge US military build-up around Venezuela and ordered deadly airstrikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats.
He has also ordered a hardline migration crackdown, threatening to move World Cup games from cities where he has sent troops and freezing asylum decisions from 19 countries including World Cup participants Haiti and Iran.
And he has cracked down on political opponents, rival ideologies and those who challenge his false claim that he won the 2020 election.
The venue for the draw, the Kennedy Centre, was where Trump installed himself this year as chairman in what he called a war on “woke” culture.
Follow Us on Google Discover
2027: Kwankwaso a goat in sheep’s clothing, secretly working for Tinubu – Atiku Campaign Council
DSS arrests Maina’s fugitive son in Abuja, hands him over to EFCC
2027: Step down if you are not working for Tinubu – Deji Adeyanju dares Obi, Kwankwaso
2027: ‘I wont join my Uncle to support Tinubu’ – Davido says
Enugu NYSC death: NAFDAC debunks claims linking corps members death to fake drugs
33 Governors cannot be wrong in supporting Tinubu – Bayo Onanuga
Security forces arrest five suspects over abduction of 20 NYSC members in Imo
Rugby star Hyron Andrews dies at 31 after accidental fall in South Africa
LAUTECH Resident Doctors halt 50-day strike as Makinde intervenes
House Officers, Nurses, Radiographers, Others wanted as DELSUTH opens recruitment – Apply Now
FG raises health fund allocation to N40.76bn, extends insurance to prison inmates
Erisco Foods announces 13 job openings across Nigeria – Apply Now
Tinubu reappoints Bala Bila as INEC commissioner, nominates six others
2027: ‘Don’t trust your destiny to ‘kalokalo’ people’ – Wike warns Rivers voters against Atiku, Amaechi, Obi
BREAKING: Cross River PDP Chairman Venatius Ikem resigns, cites leadership crisis
Erisco Foods announces 13 job openings across Nigeria – Apply Now
2027: Atiku, Obi, Makinde, Adebayo, Duke hold talks with six opposition parties
‘You Betrayed Osun People’ — Adeleke, Davido face backlash over support for Tinubu
Ex-Senator Bello Mandiya’s body found in Abuja home three days after he slipped, hit his head in the bathroom
Tinubu reappoints Bala Bila as INEC commissioner, nominates six others
JUST IN: Finnish Appeal Court reduces Simon Ekpa’s jail term to four years, upholds terrorism conviction
‘I love Islam, I’ve sent people to Mecca to pray for me, Nigeria for 25 years’ – Akpabio
Zamfara govt set to empower 36,176 residents with Dangote shares
Over 10 soldiers, four civilians feared dead as Boko Haram terrorists attack Borno military base
Umahi reopens first Niger bridge after emergency repairs, displays Tinubu’s photos
Lagos govt announces 3-day traffic diversion on Independence bridge for emergency repairs
Panic in Rivers community as pipeline explosion injures 20, razes over 50 houses
Tension escalates as thugs attack NDC secretariat in Edo, destroy properties
‘Local champion’ – Donald Duke takes fresh swipe at Gov Diri over Lagos-Calabar coastal highway
